Essays on Madness

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper was published in 1892. The story introduces a candid female protagonist who’s isolation from society, and from her writing, drives her insane. Written from a first person perspective, the story allows the reader to become personally involved with the narrator. Gilman uses symbolism throughout the story, two examples of which are the wallpaper and the wallpaper pattern. The story reveals interesting clues about how mental illness was treated at the time, and how women in particular were repressed by society. Through the use of a first person narrator and symbolism, Gilman ...

John Dowland - Go, Crystal Tears from Book of Songs, Book 1 for solo voice and lute

1) In the beginning, it was strange and even a little bit uncomfortable to listen to it because it is so different from the music that I usually listen to. I never listen to such old music, so it took a few moments for me to open up my heart and mind to the music. I knew that the sound was beautiful, but because it was so unusual compared to what I usually listen to, it did not immediately attract my attention. When this initial shock wore off, I let myself sink into the song even more deeply. I ...

Even if Macbeth and the Tell-Tale Heart, penned by Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe respectively, were written centuries apart, it’s the common theme of guilt expressed so well in the latter that helps us imagine Lady Macbeth’s state of mind (Deighton). In particular, it is the pangs of guilt that she suffers from throughout the play after coercing her husband to commit regicide - to kill King Duncan - who consider Macbeth to be an ally and friend. In the Tell-Tale Heart, the killer suffers from delusions after committing the deed in killing the old man and ...

Edgar Allen Poe wrote “The Raven” in 1945. The poem shows how lost love can lead to depression. Depression, and mental illness in general, is a topic common to many of Poe’s works, and he often uses an unreliable narrator as one of the primary means of showing such depression. Following the death of the woman he loved, a male speaker narrates “The Raven,” and through this first person account, the reader is allowed a glimpse of his descent into madness. Through the poem, Poe demonstrates to how the experience of losing a loved one can propel someone ...

Humanity and Morality

Friedrich Nietzsche The madman Where is God? he cried. I’ll tell you! You have killed him – you and I! We are all his murderers. But how did we do this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Where is it moving to now? Where are we moving to? Away from all suns? Are we continually falling? And backwards Nietszche The Gay Science 125 The first important observation concerning Nietzsche’s text is that ...

Literature

Edgar Allan Poe and his most predominant themes Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet, writer, and editor. He is also known for literary critics. He is one of the most important literary figures in Romanticism from 1840 to 1849. Poe’s work was of such dynamic nature that it has resulted in “massive impact” (3). He has also associated nature with good. Poe’s well-known fiction works are Gothic, and "Metzengerstein" was his first published Gothic tale. Some of his works were also satiric and comic such as “A Tale of Jerusalem”, “The Duc de L’Omelette” (humorous ...

The image of Ophelia is one of the most striking examples of Shakespeare's dramatic skill and the whole drama in general. This female character from the play The Tragedy Of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark cannot be considered sufficiently developed, but the essence and the role given to her by Shakespeare makes rethink the whole plot of the tragedy. The author empowered this character with a significant role, which ends in death. The nature and the causes of Ophelia's death is a self-contained topic for research. As it is known, Ophelia dies under rather strange circumstances that have suicidal implication. ...

The character of Hamlet, Danish prince in a Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name, is one of the most analyzed characters in a literature. Important part of his personality are his conflicts, inner and outer. The time passes by while he is occupied by his conflicts; that is one of the reasons for delaying the main task he gave to himself – the vengeance for his father’s death. Here we will talk about Hamlet’s introversion and alleged madness which are the parts of his inward conflict and about his attitude towards women and experience of a world ...

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Introduction For many centuries women were deprived of their natural rights to control their life and even body and yet the struggle for equal rights is still continuing. At some point, feminism acquired a negative connotation that people today associate with the fanaticism and misandry. It is quite difficult to explain why the movement that released so many women from their invisible prisons is criticized by the modern society. A lot of women have fought to overcome discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping of womanhood by changing the laws, altering the views of the society, and fighting back their oppressors. In ...

“The Cask of Amontillado” is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1846. The story deals with revenge, torture and murder and it is set in a catacomb where skeletons might be seen like in underground Paris. The story is also about Montresor’s murderous mind and the actions which let him plot his revenge. Montresor is the narrator of the story as well as the protagonist and the murderer. He is a cold and merciless person who believes in murder as a necessary way to defend his honor. Fortunato mocks him numerous times and Montresor ...

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the typical Victorian marriage is constructed as a prisoner from which a woman is only able to escape when she becomes insane. Her insanity becomes her only way of defying her husband, and gaining freedom. The author’s feminist argument in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is skillfully constructed by creating a protagonist whose growing mental instability is narrated from her own perspective. However, ironically, at the same time with her worsening mental state, she evades the social rules and pressures which had entrapped her in an unhappy marriage. While her mental condition ...

The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, is a short story that was written in order to describe the total inefficiency of medical treatment for postpartum depression in its era, and to create a greater awareness of the lack of medical understanding of the condition. As such, the storm describes the primary character’s deteriorating mental health, as she descends into madness as a result of her depression. More specifically, her description of her environment, and the personification of the wallpaper directly represents her deteriorating mental condition. As the wallpaper’s descriptions become more vivid and charactuerized, the narrator’ ...

Summary of Burton Malkiel’s “A Random Walk Down Wall Street”

Burton Malkiel authors the book “A Random Walk Down Wall Street”, highlighting several investing strategies, truisms, myths, and axioms. According to the book, Malkiel seems to have his central premise that index funds are better investment options to an individual than other strategies used for selecting stocks. This piece provides a summary of four chapters divided into two parts: part 1 having chapters 1 and 2, and part 2 having chapters 4 and 14.

Chapter 1: Firm Foundations and Castles in the Air

In the first chapter, Burton starts by defining random walk as an instance in which future occurrences cannot be predicted based on the past occurrences ( ...

The film, ‘Apocalypse Now' is a 1979 American movie, which bases its settings In the Vietnam War. The film draws its plot and characters from the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, an explorer of the Congo, who puts down his experiences in the heart of Africa. The film and the novel both emphasize on the native savages depicting the latter as objects rather than human beings whose character deserve an exploration just like other characters. This essay reviews the ‘Apocalypse Now' film based on the differences and similarities between the film and the novel on which it ...

Policy Positions Paper: Use of Medical Marijuana in Georgia

The use of marijuana (Cannabis sativa) can be traced back more than 5000 years ago related to medical, recreational, and spiritual reasons (Bostwick, 2012). The United States Pharmacopeia has included it since 1850’s, and until the 1930’s physicians provided prescriptions for it for a number of physical complaints (Narcanon International, 2016). In 1970, the United States Congress determined it had no valid therapeutic value and categorized it as a Schedule I illegal substance. However, a number of sources have stated that marijuana has no addictive properties (Samsha, 2016). The National Institute on Drug Abuse state this is ...

In the Poems by Eberhart and Thomas

Childhood is a topic of many poems because it is the experience that all the people have in their life. Many poets are trying to tell us about their childhood experiences through their literary works. All the people have different experiences with their childhood times. This all depends on diverse factors that happen throughout that period of time. The outer environment plays a big role in childhood for people. Some people may be happier and the others can be less satisfied with their childhood experiences. Two poems, “Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas and “If I could only live at ...

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is best characterized by his ambition, which leads him to commit heinous murders and eventually causes him to become insane. In “Macbeth”, one of the greatest tragedies ever written, the protagonist transforms from a valiant nobleman to an insane and violent tyrant, whose downfall comes as a relief by the end of the play. The tragedy is a literary genre which tackles a serious or somber topic, and in which the protagonist has an unhappy fate, usually brought about by a major flaw in his character. In the play, Macbeth first kills Duncan to take ...

Section 1

One of the cultural myths about the United States of America is that anyone can become filthy rich in the country and it is the land of opportunity. Popular culture and media does not leave any stone unturned in making people believe it is a fact, as several movies and television shows are made on the same theory that helps in solidifying the myth. The reality is far from this myth as there are many people to come to America dreaming of making it big, but fail and turn to ordinary life or return home. Though there are some ...

The hero of the film A Beautiful Mind is a real person, mathematician John Nash, who became a Nobel Prize winner in his later years for his early work. And this "beautiful mind" is suffering from one of the mental illnesses - namely schizophrenia, which resulted in an aggravation of the disease to the dangerous persecution mania, in a lighter form - to the visions taken for reality. The fate of a talented scientist tracked for half a century - from the second half of the 40s to the late 90s. And, apparently, this movie should be considered as ...

Abstract:

Mental illnesses altogether place a significant burden of disorder on young people. They induce adequate negative outcomes short- and long-term in several domains. Many youths with mental illnesses such as Bipolar disorder and Schizophrenia fall into the clutches of the criminal justice system (CJS) due to their risky behavior. This leads to a problematic quality of life. The main objective of the paper is to highlight about the mental illnesses in youth and the criminal justice system. A web search was conducted and quality articles were retrieved. It was observed that mentally ill youth encounter trouble with regard to ...

At the beginning of the play, Hamlet, the son of Hamlet, the king or in other words, Hamlet, the prince, is introduced to the reader as being a university student who had been studying at Wittenberg. He has had to leave his studies to go and attend to the death of his father in Denmark. Although he was very loyal and loved his father so much, he gets disappointed when he gets home and finds that his uncle Claudio, has married his mother, Gertrude. His love for his father comes out when even Claudio realizes that Hamlet was sad, ...

Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare and The Bluest Eye is a novel written by Toni Morrison. Both Macbeth and The Bluest Eye deal with human nature and its striving to reach the best possible state of existence. The goal of Macbeth and his wife is to gain power at all costs which deprives them of humanity. Pecola also wants to improve her life which is why she wishes to have blue eyes. There is much suffering and fight for power in these texts as well as the age all problem of evil which affects all people. ...

The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America (Treaty of Tlatelolco), which now also includes all states in the Caribbean just turned 40 years since signature in 1967. Its importance as a model for other non-nuclear areas, is constant to peace and international securities contribution, which stood and continue placing today in the center of the political and legal interest. Its parallelism with the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) but without Latin American treaty has affected the principle of legal equality of States and has not been an expression of "unequal rights and ...

Based on the initial symptoms, the patient most likely suffers from hypothyroidism or low thyroid hormone disorder. Further clinical tests and an examination of the family’s medical history reveals that the particular disorder could be Hashimoto’s disease; also called Hashimoto thyroiditis. Hashimoto thyroiditis is classified as an autoimmune disease. In autoimmune disease, one's immune system attacks the body’s tissue specifically the thyroid gland (Skugor & Wilder, 2006, p.2). By attacking the thyroid gland, the disease reduces the gland’s ability to produce thyroid hormones of substantial quantity. This condition leads to hypothyroidism. Thyroid hormone deficiency presents with ...

Introduction: Hamlet is a famous drama written by William Shakespeare, between the year 1599- 1600. Hamlet, the lead character in the play is the prince of Denmark. There are various themes in the play. For example, the difference between appearance and reality. Prince Hamlet was torn between appearance and realities that happened in his life. The following text of Act III, scene iii of the play is analyzed: “A brother’s murder, he says, is the oldest sin and “hath the primal eldest curse upon” (Semper 79; De Grazia 83). Hamlet is the most complex character ever written by ...

Creation is defined as the act of bringing something into existence, and the creation of man itself is normally attributed to procreation or an act of some divine being. Humans have for a long time marveled over the act of creation and its many varying concepts, including the prospect of creating another in their own image. In Mary Shelley’s fictional exploration of this theme in her novel Frankenstein, the rise and fall of scientist Victor Frankenstein showcases both the wonder and the downfall of mankind in his endless quest for the creative power of the divine. Once Victor ...

Comparison of W.H. Auden and John Dryden One of the differences in the stylistic choices of the two poets is the use of rhyme. In his elegy, John Dryden employs a rhyme scheme after every two sentences throughout the poem.

Thus Nisus fell upon the slippery place, While his young friend perform'd and won the race. O early ripe! to thy abundant store What could advancing age have added more?. (Dryden) As seen in the first six lines of the poem, every two sentences maintain the same rhyme scheme. John Dryden employs an intricate and deliberate choice of words ...

It was the best event I ever experienced in my life – the carnival season just started and it seemed that all the citizens got crazy at one and the same time. They drank wine, cheated on, caroused and hid everything under their masks and costumes. I decided not to fall behind and put on the most expensive clothes that I had in order to have an impressive look of a noble and admired man and one of the best wine connoisseurs. The conical cap with bells completed my costume of motley. At first I wanted to show off and ...

The Case of Mental Illness

Introduction Mental disorder or ailments is a collection that contains numerous conditions, which can be depicted by various symptoms. These symptoms are linked to the way an individual behaves as well as the manner in which they portray their feelings. Judgments based on cultural norms and contexts are useful especially in identifying symptoms that show that an individual is mentally ill. Therefore, emotions and behavior play a significant role in the identification of these symptoms. The emergence of mental illness has led to a rise in psychiatrists who examine and diagnose patients with mental health problems. However, "madness" is ...

Function of Ophelia in the Plot of the Story

Ophelia is portrayed as an innocent girl who is faced with grief when her father dies as she is left talking in riddles and singing sorrowful songs. The grief Ophelia undergoes leads to her drowning in the end with suggestions that she might have killed herself. However, there is a disagreement with the sentiments of the clerics during the funeral event since Laertes, her brother believes that the innocent soul of Ophelia will be in heaven. The fact that her brother believes that she shall be in heaven further paints the picture of an innocent Ophelia. The Queen wishes ...

In a letter from Emily Dickenson to “Austin”, Dickenson writes of her difficulty in writing, afterward focusing instead on her identity as a sister, rather than a writer. It seems interesting that a woman who was so outspoken, in general, and willing to embrace her ideas is willing to rely on her brother both in terms of getting her the prescription she needs, and as it relates to his judgement regarding what is best with her father. He voice in the letter is also interesting because it is familiar. While a formal letter would refer to individuals by their ...

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an outstanding American writer and a huge supporter of women’s rights that reflected in her literary works. One of her most famous one is the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” that is written in the form of a diary of a young lady, who was diagnosed with a mental disease and spent a time living in a room with yellow wallpaper that led to her demise. The story can be viewed as semiautobiographical, as Gilman wrote it after she had a postpartum psychosis. In her story she uses figurative language to reveal the theme ...

The depiction of a setting as the main hindrance or destructive force behind the fall of a protagonist is evident in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, and D. H. Lawrence’s The Rocking-Horse Winner. As the authors develop the settings around the main characters’ homes, the mentioned texts go on to give the otherwise lifeless structures roles of their own as they affect the inhabitants in one way or another. To that end, Emily’s house symbolizes her gradual deterioration while the unknown narrator regards her house as one would ...

Edgar Allan Poe and the Concept of Death

One of the most puzzling detective writers, Edgar Allan Poe still remains to be a mystery for both experts in literature and common readers. In his stories E. Poe attempted to draw the image of death, an incredible and at the same time an inevitable enemy of the human race. Death is all-powerful as well as the feeling of fear or even horror of a human in the face of death. It is not accidentally that the author places his characters in a space isolated from the world – it can be a torture chamber, well, jail, old estate – where ...

In the Victorian period The Woman Question was a widely discussed topic, and engaged many Victorians, both male and female. The ideal woman of that age was associated with tenderness, understanding, innocence, domestic affection and submissiveness. The woman had to maintain the status and integrity of her husband, being always the devoted and pleasing angel in the house. Coventry Patmore supported the idea that women should be extremely pure and selfless in his popular, best-selling long poem “The Angel in the House” (1854). A woman that failed at such responsibilities was labelled either mad or hysterical. During the Victorian ...

Creation is defined as the act of bringing something into existence, and is normally attributed to procreation or an act of some divine being. Humans have for a long time marveled over the act of creation and its many varying concepts, not the least of which includes the prospect of creating another in their own image. Despite being fictional, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein showcases both the wonder and the downfall of creation. The fascination with creation leads only to revelation of the self. As illustrated by author Robert Horton the story of Frankenstein is a perfect example of how ...

Some actions, despite their initial good intentions, are hampered by its oftentimes poor executions. Although Victor Frankenstein expressed that his initial reason to cheat the cycle of life and death is to create a better world, his past and state of mind is actually mired with selfish intentions. Curiosity is something inherent in every human being, but there is a line that must never be crossed even by the most insatiable thirst for knowledge. There is a fine line that separates science and knowledge from madness and insanity, regardless of the age and reason. Victor’s desire for knowledge ...

For many readers, Hamlet is a complex character that goes mad because of the anger that he feels as a result of his father being murdered. But, the inner conflict that sets the events in motion is a direct result of the trauma he experiences and not as a result of his childhood experiences, but of the tragedy of losing his father. The play centers on the basic code of chivalry as Hamlet embraces the thoughts of avenging his father’s death and that he must seek honor at all cost. The inner conflicts forces Hamlet to maintain the ...

Female protagonists are not often presented with a great deal of angst or flaws, especially in 19th century literature. However, the following short stories are a notable exception. The protagonist of “The Yellow Wallpaper” gradually grows psychotic from isolation and confinement to a small wallpapered room; Calixta in “The Storm” falls into a passionate one-night affair with a former lover on the evening of a thunderstorm; and the titular “Eveline” is solemn and contemplative, not really knowing what direction to take in her life. In this paper, we will examine the similarities and differences between these three women, and how the circumstances in their lives ...

In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” there are many characters who demonstrate deception, putting on a show for others in order to hide their true feelings or intentions. Sometimes, they deceive these other characters out of necessity; often, however, they are also fooling themselves. In this paper, we will examine which characters in Hamlet put on a show, and why they do it. Through this, we can gain a greater understanding of the subtleties of the play and what Shakespeare has to say about the futility of deception.

The first character to deceive is, obviously, the titular character of Hamlet. Over the course of ...